When I mention contractions, I am not referring to ladies in childbirth nor my hubby whose muscles contract at the mere thought of pulling out his wallet at the mention of a new designer handbag. I am talking, of course, about two words that are combined and certain letters omitted. We put an apostrophe where the letter or letters have become verbally redundant. Contrary to popular belief, they are not just thrown randomly in the general direction of the word.
The role of the Apostrophe
An apostrophe is a punctuation mark that is used to either clarify contraction or designate possession. I will deal with possession in a future blog.
After leaving college I worked for many years as a PA at director level and completed all of my RSA secretarial qualifications. Therefore, most of my composition experience was using formal language in which you hardly ever use contractions. I have since found that I feel uncomfortable using contractions in personal correspondence. To be perfectly honest I am not a great lover of contractions, because they often confuse. I admit to using them in speech in informal situations but find myself unwilling to use them in my writing, which robs my correspondence of nuance and restricts my ability to change mood.
Mastering Contractions
Therefore, it is a good idea for any writer to master and understand appropriate use of contractions in order to better express changes in tone. This is especially true when writing dialogue or reported speech.
Word contraction in English can be traced back to the runic alphabet of Old English in the seventh century. They contracted words such as is not, so I guess it is their fault the horror of the word isn’t, which is often turned into ain’t.
Most Common Contractions
Here are the most notorious contractions in use today and if you think I have missed any, please drop me a line.
Aren’t = are not
Can’t = cannot
Couldn’t = could not
Didn’t = did not
Doesn’t = does not
Don’t = do not
Hadn’t = had not
Hasn’t = has not
Haven’t = have not
He’d = he had or he would
He’ll = he will or he shall
He’s = he is or he has
I’d = I had or I would
I’ll = I will or I shall
I’m = I am
I’ve = I have
Isn’t = is not
It’s = it is
It’ll = it will
Let’s = let us
Mightn’t = might not
Mustn’t = must not
Shan’t = shall not
She’d = she had or she would
She’ll = she will or she shall
She’s = she is or she has
Shouldn’t = should not
That’s = that is or that has
There’s = there is or there has
They’d = they had or they would
They’ll = they will or they shall
They’re = they are
They’ve = they have
We’d = we had or we would
We’re = we are
We’ve = we have
Weren’t = were not
What’ll = what will or what shall
What’re = what are
What’s = what is or what has
What’ve = what have
Where’s = where is or where has
Who’d = who had or who would
Who’ll = who will or who shall
Who’re = who are
Who’ve = who have
Won’t = will not
Wouldn’t = would not
You’d = you had or you would
You’ll = you will or you shall
You’re = you are
You’ve = you have